No Ground on last outlet

[skeezix]

I'm so ticked at our electrician! Just bought a home and paid an electrician to sweep the garage and fix some wiring issues. He said that there was nothing that he could do because there was no ground wires anywhere in the garage. Now, after spending the a few hours in there myself, I find a couple of ground wires not hooked up, and a reversed polarity. All of the outlets had 3-wire romex with ground wires! I fixed 3 or the 4 recepticles so that they now test correctly on a three-lamp tester.

Problem is, the last recepticle on the circuit still shows open ground. I verified that the ground wire is hooked up on the outlet directly before it, and the recepticle that I am working on. The walls are nailed over with plywood, so I'll probably just slap a GFCI on the last outlet and call it good. But I'm curious... what causes have you guys seen for this scenario? Broken wires? Buried Junction boxes? etc.

[HayZee518]

could be the guy who wired it up came up short for romex and just spliced within a wall space without any box. probable just forgot the ground or, in the process of tightening the wire nuts, the wire came loose and he didn't see it. if you can snake in a piece of romex to your final box.

[Speedy Petey]

It could also be a box you are not seeing. Maybe behind something, burried behind the plywood, or in the attic over the garage?

Another thing, ALL the receptacles in the garage, except behind a fridge/freezer or in the ceiling, must be GFI protected.

[skeezix]

Thanks guys... I did GFCI all of the other outlets in the garage. This is actually the last one in the line on one of the GFCI's that I installed yesterday. For some reason it just won't trip the first GFCI, I assume because there is no ground. I am not too worried because it is the least likely outlet to be used outside in the driveway or backyard, so I will probably just put an ungrounded GFCI on it and call it good. When I get around to building a tool bench under the outlet I will probably snake new Romex at that time. As for now... I need to get back to finishing our major projects. Thanks for your help.